She has since made the city her permanent home, and the 17-year-old has continued her campaigning through her non-profit organisation called the Malala Fund.

Malala has now become the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient and has been jointly awarded the prize with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights campaigner. They will receive the reward at a special ceremony in Oslo today.

“I want to serve my country and my dream is that my country becomes a developed country and I see every child get an education,” she said.

Malala added that she had been inspired by Benazir Bhutto - a woman who twice served as Pakistan’s prime minister before her murder in 2007.

“If I can serve my country best through politics and through becoming a prime minister then I would definitely choose that,” Ms Yousafzai said.

“Now this peace prize is very important for me and it has really given me more hope, more courage, and I feel stronger than before because I see many people are with me.

“There are more responsibilities but I have also put responsibilities on myself. I feel I am answerable to God and to myself and that I should help my community. It’s my duty.”

It comes as Malala and Kailash have joined an urgent appeal to help five million children pushed out of school because of the Ebola epidemic.

They have linked up with United Nations Special Education Envoy Gordon Brown to plead for safe schools in three of the worst-affected countries - Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Many of the schools in the three African countries have been closed as a preventative measure to stop the spread of the epidemic. Other schools are being used to care for Ebola patients.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Perhaps half of the children whose schools have been closed because of Ebola may never return to school.

“The evidence is that some may be married off or forced into child labour and after a year out half are lost to education for ever.

“As they receive their Nobel Peace Prize award, two of our greatest-ever children’s champions - Malala and Kailash - have agreed to call on their supporters around the world to sign our Up For School petition, with a demand that nothing stand in the way of every child going to school.”